Abstract
The proposition for the paper centers on identifying unique place-making attributes and spatial characteristics of future cities in the making. Drawing upon specific ecological, physical, social, and economic conditions of these cities, their planners have evolved solutions that address contemporary city challenges of fragmented open spaces, disconnect with nature, monotony, and lack of vibrancy in the urban public realm. The research has been carried out by a comparative case study method of analyzing 3 future cities in the making. Located in distinct geographical and socio-economic contexts, they promise to address future living, working, playing, and learning. The 3 cities selected are Toyota Woven City, Japan, Tengah New Town, Singapore, and Neom, Saudi Arabia. The common denominator in all three is the intent to make the human experience central to the place and urban space, driven by varying forms of cutting-edge technological interventions. Another commonality between the three is that they represent the next level of green urbanism, which is the theoretical premise of the paper. While the site for the Woven City is 175 acres at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, Tengah New Town is planned on an area of 700 Ha in the ecologically diverse Western region of Singapore and Neom covers an area of 26,500 sq. km in a stark desert landscape. All three cities are driven by different mandates for development. Woven City is envisioned as a Living Laboratory and designed as a prototype city of the future by a private entity looking to spur innovative urban development for the future. Tengah New Town, a government initiative, has emerged to address the future housing needs of Singapore embedding the legacy of sustainable development that the Island state is famous for. Neom, also a government-driven project, is the most ambitious. The objective is to diversify the economy of Saudi Arabia from an oil-dependent state to a futuristic global world-class society. Irrespective of the mandate and scale, all three cases exemplify an approach to placemaking and spatiality that tempers nature, blue-green infrastructure, and an inter-connected, inter-laced, and inter-woven public realm that is not yet seen in contemporary cities. The paper hypothesizes that this approach builds on the idea of ‘pluralistic places’ and ‘spirited spaces’ as the paradigm of connectivity and urban futures. Pluralistic places can be understood in terms of possessing multi-functional, multi-ethnic, and diverse identities. Spirited spaces can be qualified as those derived from an intricate human-nature-habitat web of interaction and infused with a distinctive liveliness. All 3 examples in their own way exemplify future frontiers of city planning. The frontiers put people first and aim to replace the current connectivity modes in both the physical and digital realm, with future modes. The research would be applicable as all economies globally, developing and developed, transition to newer ways of living propelled by the technological wave that we are in the midst of. Significantly, the research would act as a spatial planning framework for practitioners globally to draw ideas from in planning for future cities.
